The White House said Jared Kushner will not be affected by any policy changes made regarding security clearances, even though he still has an interim security clearance 13 months into the job.

“Nothing that has taken place will affect the valuable work that Jared is doing,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said at the White House briefing on Tuesday.

Chief of Staff John Kelly last week ordered changes to how the White House manages security clearance investigations, after staffer Rob Porter continued to access top secret material even after claims of domestic abuse by two ex-wives were reported to the FBI.

Porter had been working under an interim security clearance, raising scrutiny over the 30 to 40 White House staffers who are also working with interim security clearances, including the president’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

The new policy limits new interim clearances to a maximum of 270 days, and cuts off any Top Secret or Sensitive-Compartmented-Information (TS/SCI) level interim clearances for individuals whose investigations or adjudications have been pending since June 1, 2017, or before.

That new policy would presumably affect Kushner, who currently holds an interim TS/SCI security clearance that has been pending since he joined the White House more than a year ago. Kushner has reportedly requested more intelligence information than almost every other White House official outside of the National Security Council. He is allowed to see the nation’s most-guarded intelligence, and access the presidential daily briefing.

On Monday, CNN reported that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s interest in Kushner had expanded beyond his Russian contacts, into meetings during the transition period with foreign investors to shore up financing for a building backed by his family’s firm.

Sanders batted down repeated questions from reporters over Kushner’s security clearance, given his many powerful roles in the administration and the sensitivity of some of his tasks, on everything from working on the Middle East Peace Process to modernizing the federal government’s use of technology.

“I”m not aware of any red flags,” Sanders said.

Trump critics have questioned Kushner’s access to the nation’s most secured intelligence despite his lack of a permanent security clearance for months. Last week, left-wing watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics filed a complaint, calling on the White House to revoke Kushner’s interim clearance.

California Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu has questioned Kushner’s lack of a clearance on a near-weekly basis:

Ted Lieu

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@tedlieu

Today is #PresidentsDay2018. That means we all need to ask again: Why does son-in-law of @POTUS still have a security clearance?

Also, did Kushner cause White House to initially turn against Qatar because they rejected his demand to finance the troubled loan at 666 Fifth Ave?

During the meeting with Parkland students at the White House on Wednesday President Trump said arming teachers is a step that can be taken to make schools less-attractive targets for attackers.

He said that as things stand, attackers have nothing to lose because no one can shoot back.

CNN quoted Trump saying, “Gun-free zone to a maniac—because they’re all cowards—a gun-free zone is ‘let’s go in and let’s attack because bullets aren’t coming back at us.’” He said adopting a policy where “20 percent” of teachers were armed would reduce or eliminate the perception of weakness, making schools a riskier target to strike.

Trump said, “If you had a teacher who was adept with the firearm, they could end the attack very quickly.”

Newsweek reports that Trump also emphasized mental health and raising “the minimum age for purchasing a firearm,” but the push for arming teachers took center stage.

Students showed considerable support for the idea of arming teachers. Hunter Pollack, who lost his sister Meadow in the attack, said, “I’m not here to debate, but I lost my sister. And like Mr. President said, if you could find 20% of maybe retired law enforcement officers, or a teacher who could go through discreet training to carry a firearm around his waist, it could’ve been a very different situation.”

President Trump campaigned on allowing teachers to be armed for self-defense. He said gun-free zones provide “target practice for sickos” and, on October 8, 2016, theWashington Post quoted him saying, “I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools.”

Former President Barack Obama sparked a liberal backlash by praising Rev. Billy Graham, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 99.

“Billy Graham was a humble servant who prayed for so many – and who, with wisdom and grace, gave hope and guidance to generations of Americans,” Obama wrote on Twitter, shortly after news of Graham’s death became public.

Liberals lashed out at Obama for not trashing Graham after death for the preacher’s Christian beliefs about gay marriage. (Obama, it’s worth noting, also opposed gay marriage when he first ran for president in 2008.)

A new report names Baltimore, Md., as the most dangerous city in America after the city had the highest per capita murder rate in the country for 2017.

USA Today analyzed 2017 law enforcement crime data from the 50 biggest cities in the nation and found that Baltimore had a higher per capita murder rate than cities like New Orleans and Detroit.

Baltimore came in first with about 56 people murdered per 100,000 in 2017, seeing about 343 homicides throughout the course of the year. New Orleans, on the other hand, saw 40 per 100,000 killed and Detroit saw 39 per 100,000.

The city also saw more total homicides than big cities like Los Angeles, Dallas and New York City. The USA Today analysis left out St. Louis, a smaller city, that would have beaten Baltimore’s per capita homicide rate.

Baltimore struggled to fight the gun violence plaguing the city in 2017, with activists hosting “ceasefire weekends” in an attempt to urge people to stop murdering each other.

Things seems to have taken a turn for the better in the city since the new year started. The mayor fired the former police commissioner and enacted a new one to get better results on stopping the violence and killings that have gone down since the year began.

Not all residents agree with the USA Today analysis of their city, saying they haven’t felt any danger while living in the city.

“It’s a shame when people who don’t come in the city and don’t experience the city, don’t have relationships here want to make comments about it,” Rachel Cybor told CBS Baltimore.

James says he will continue to inspire the youth.

At the 2018 NBA All-Star media day, LeBron James spoke about social injustice and equality in response to the Fox News host who suggested he “shut up and dribble.”

“We’re back to everything I’ve been talking about over the last few years,” James said to the media. “It lets me know that everything I’ve been saying has been correct for her to be having that type of reaction.

“We will definitely NOT shut up and dribble. I’m definitely not going to do that. I mean too much to society. I mean too much to the youth. I mean too much to the kids who feel like they don’t have a way out and need somebody to lead them out of the situation they’re in.”

James reflected on growing up in a financially unstable situation with a single parent in the inner city, and he boasted how he’s beaten the odds and continued to inspire the youth.

Laura Ingraham, host of the FOX News show The Ingraham Angle, targeted James and Kevin Durant after they spoke out against President Donald Trump in an appearance on Uninterrupted.

“The number one job in America … is someone who doesn’t understand the people, and really don’t give a f— about the people,” James said. ”It’s not even a surprise when he says something. It’s like, laughable. It’s laughable and it’s scary.”

“Must they run their mouths like that?” Ingraham said in the segment. “Unfortunately, a lot of kids — and some adults — take these ignorant comments seriously. Look, there might be a cautionary lesson in LeBron for kids: This is what happens when you attempt to leave high school a year early to join the NBA. And it’s always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid a hundred million dollars a year to bounce a ball. Oh, and LeBron and Kevin: You’re great players but no one voted for you. Millions elected Trump to be their coach. So keep the political commentary to yourself or, as someone once said, shut up and dribble.”

NBA @NBA

I actually laughed first when I saw the reports. Then I watched the videos and saw how it was put off. I had no idea who she is or what she do, but she won in that case because now I know who she is. For her to go up there and say what she said… First of al I would have had a little more respect for her if she wrote those words, she probably said t right off the teleprompter but that’s ok.

We’re back to everything I’ve been talking about over the last few years. It lets me know that everything I’ve been saying has been correct for her to be having that type of reaction. We will definitely NOT shut up and dribble. I’m definitely not going to do that. I mean too much to society. I mean too much to the youth. I mean too much to the kids who feel like they don’t have a way out and need somebody to lead them out of the situation they’re in.

Also, I wish she would have done a little more fact-checking because I finished high school and didn’t leave early. I graduated high school.

To be an African-American kid and grow up in the inner-city with a single parent mother and not being financially stable and to be where I am today, I think I’ve defeated the odds. I want every kid to know that, and I want everybody to know that the youth can do it as well. That’s why I won’t shut up and dribble. I mean too much to my two boys here, their best friend here, my daughter at home, my wife, my family, and all these other kid who look up to me for inspiration who are trying to find a way out, and find some leeway on how they can become as great as they can be and how their dreams can become a reality.

The best thing she did was help me create more awareness. I appreciate her for giving me more awareness. For me to be sitting here on the greatest weekend of the NBA All-Star Weekend… the best weekend in he NBA where all the countries all around the world come to watch the greatest players in the world no matter they’re a part of Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and I get to talk about social injustice, equality, and why a person on a certain network decided to tell me to shut up and dribble.

So thank you, whatever her name is. I get to talk about what’s really important. and I can help change kids not only in America, but in Brazil and England and Mexico and all over. So thank you.

What did Draymond Green say?

In his press conference, Green said that it was “embarrassing” and “showed where we really are.”

What did Kevin Durant say?

“It was racist,” Durant said about the FOX News segment, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick.

“It didn’t hit me. Ignorance is something I try to ignore. That was definitely an ignorant comment. I do play basketball, but I am a civilian and I am a citizen of the United States, so my voice is just as loud as hers, I think – or even louder.”